On Sunday March 5, 2000, my husband Gene and I took off in our old Suburban to try and find an old cemetery up in the South Mountains. You see, Gene had stumbled over some old gravestones while deer hunting some 30 years ago up there. He said he can’t remember even looking for names on the stones. Guess he just figured he wouldn’t know them anyway. Several weeks ago, I was boring him with my genealogy research and told him about finding families of Edward Cook’s descendants all around the foot of the South Mountains. That’s when he told me about this old cemetery! Can you imagine how excited I got? It has been hard to wait these few weeks to go. The first Saturday after that it was raining; the second Saturday it was raining, but this Sunday it was perfect.

We began talking to our son, Jeff, about our trip. He rides the jeep trails on 4-wheelers and also 4-wheel drive vehicles with his friends. He informed us that the Enola entrance, as well as the Golden Valley entrance had been closed and the only way into these hills was off the Highway 64 entrance, which is about 5 miles north of Morganton. The road that goes all the way across from Morganton to Pine Mountain Lakes has always been known as the CCC road. This CCC stands for Civilian Conservation Corps.

Sunday morning we left home around 9:30 a.m. and made a stop in Morganton at Wal-Mart to see if we could find a good map of the area with the names of the little peaks etc. We did not find one there, but did find one which was somewhat helpful at the Ingles Supermarket nearby. We trekked on up Highway 64 to the Roper Hollow Road. This paved road turns into dirt about 1.4 miles from Hwy. 64. From there on up you will need a 4-wheel drive vehicle. It is very rocky! Also, try to pick a dry time to go, for there are deep mud holes. It is approximately 13 miles into the area of the cemetery. We stopped along the road around 11:30 to eat our picnic lunch, but someone had forgotten to get the bread! We ended up eating snack stuff instead of our roast beef and bologna. Gene had to really look the area over good to jog his memory about the area. He knew exactly where the little path was that would lead him over to that ridge. We parked the car, grabbed the camera, a piece of paper, and an ink pen and started walking. It was such a beautiful day with temperature around 70 degrees. As we walked down the path and we came upon an old hunting camp, which is no longer in use. Jeff says that the South Mountain Park bought them out. We crossed a little branch and walked along the trickling water for some distance. This area had a lot of old apple trees along it. These apple trees were one of the things that Gene remembered well. We then cut up across the mountain, climbing to the ridge line. He said we needed to just walk the ridge till we found it. He couldn’t remember just how far, but thought we were in the general area. He began to feel disheartened and said maybe he had just dreamed this etc. We kept walking, but stopped to rest every now and again. As I looked up in the distance, I could see a fence. I said, “They’ve fenced it in.” He looked again and said, “Yes, that’s it!” He told me later that at first he thought the campers had probably built a corral for their horses, because there wasn’t a fence around it when he had been there before.

I can’t tell you the excitement of finding this cemetery. I would have been happy to find it even if there wasn’t a Cook buried there. But I crossed over the fence and focused on two stones on the upper end, which read: “Riley Cook and Elizabeth Cook.” I couldn’t help but shed some tears. I told Gene there were cold chills running over my skin. I counted the graves that I could see the soap stones for. There were 35 that I could count. Riley and Elizabeth’s were the only two I could see any writing on. There were several pine trees fenced in and there was a small grove of rhododendron on the graves. I only wish I had taken some flowers up there with me. The fence was made of 6 x 6 pine posts with 2 rails all way around the perimeter. It was very, very neat and I believe it had not been built many years. I would like to meet the person who built that fence. Perhaps he could tell me more about this family. We made quite a few pictures, and wrote down the information from the stones. This was the information on the stones:

We spent some time there talking about why Riley might have settled there. We wondered where he farmed, for we saw nothing that looked like cleared land from the past, nor any old home place around. He probably got his water from that little branch we talked about earlier. Maybe he didn’t live up there. Maybe he just lived in Enola and came up from that side, which would only have been 4 or 5 miles and requested to be buried there. We wondered who else was buried in that cemetery. We were full of questions and no answers.

We went back down the mountain more excited than when we went up. I asked Gene to go over to the Enola section to see if we could find Pleasant Hill Baptist Church where Riley’s brother Eli was buried, along with some of his family. We, indeed, found it and compared the inscriptions with those of Bill Floyd. I snapped a couple of pictures here also. Next we followed the Enola road out to the Watershed Road. The road was not blocked off, so we continued up the mountain. We were able to go nearly to the top before the road was cabled off. We are not sure just how close we were to reaching the area where the cemetery is located from that side.

I am really excited about finding this information. If you have any other information on the people buried at Rich Mountain or know any thing about its history, I would love to hear it.

Rev. John T. Hoyle’s life has been somewhat intriguing to me, since I was bitten by the genealogy bug back in 1997. My mother-in-law, Eleze Hoyle Sain, told me bits and pieces about her grandfather, John T. Hoyle. She told me he was a circuit rider preacher, but didn’t know what denomination.

We found his name on a list of preachers for at least one church, St. Paul Baptist, in Casar, NC. Up until that time, I was inclined to believe he was Methodist. While going through some old papers we found that his affiliation with the Methodists changed and he became affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church.

John obviously did not have paper on which to write. He used the backs of picture pages in bound books, such as, The United States Department of Agriculture book for the year 1901. He also used little blank sheets at the backs of these books to jot down how much he owed and to whom, and also when others borrowed from him, and how much. I believe he would have been a great journalist, if he were living today, because I have found so many of his notes.

Eleze always had a yearning to learn where her grandmother, Eliza Jane Swofford, wife of John T., was buried. One summer afternoon, Eleze brought two or three boxes of old antique books to my house that had been owned by John. Well, I could hardly wait to get into those books. I was hoping that he had written something somewhere that would give us that nugget of information! Laboriously, I thumbed through each and every page of each book. Some had little notes, but I finally came upon what I was looking for. He tells us that Eliza Jane died in 1891 in Clifton, SC, but does not give us the place of burial. He also gave us an idea of the torment he and Eliza had gone through by writing “Much trouble”. They had five children who died before the age of three. I have never found out the cause of their deaths. There was so much information on this one page, I just couldn’t believe it! I was rejoicing and crying at the same time. I took this book and a copy to Eleze so that she could rejoice with me. It was so wonderful to have someone to share this genealogy hobby with me. We have never found out exactly where Eliza was buried, but Eleze was convinced that wherever she may be, that her grave would be marked with a stone. All the children’s graves are marked with stones, and it is very unlikely that he would not have marked Eliza’s grave. Later, in this same book, I found about the same information on another page.

In the collection of books of John, there is one called “The Abbott’s Great Work”, copyright unknown as the first several pages are torn out. In the back of this book were several blank pages. It was on these pages that John recorded the minutes of the South Mountain Mission, of which he was the secretary. I would appreciate it, if you claim any of these people as yours, some information on them, and if anyone knows anything about the Clifton, SC area, as to where Eliza may have been buried, I would appreciate the information.

Big Hill Methodist Church Minutes 1881

“Third quarterly conference for South Mountain Mission held at Big Hill August the 23, 1881. A.M. Long, P.C. in the chair opened with prair by Peter Hoyle, J.T. Hoyle elected Secretary. The roll was called. The following were present: A.M. Long, PC, W. M. Swofford, L.P, J.T. Hoyle, LP,Peter Hoyle, Exhorter.

Question first Are there any appeals? None.
2. Are there any complaints? None
3 Is there a written report from the preacher in charge of the number in state of Sunday School. _____Report A. Sunday Schools on this work have been doing good work during the past quarter there are 3 schools in operation in _______ union school. In these schools about ______ officers and scholars have been doing work for the church.
AM Long
4. Report B State of the general state of the church in tolerable good on this work at present though not what it should be 11 children have been baptized the past quarter. Some indications for good being done at some point, also a fair prospect for revival meetings before the close of the year. AM Long

6 What amount have been apportioned to this charge by the distribute stewards. One hundred dollars. PE38 Bishop $1

7 Amount raised $7.74 cents. Paid to P.C. $5.7 PE $2

10 Who is elected recording steward? J. T. Hoyle

13 No vacancies

15 No applications are for licenses to preach nor exhort.

17 Have the _____preached in __________in examination of charcter have there been at ___the __________.

Minister of 4th quarterly conference South Mountain Mission Shelby District NC Conference ME Church South. Held at Pleasant Gap Oct 15, 1881. Rev A. M. Long PC in the ______. The conference was open with prair by Marey Clark. Marey Clark was elected Secretary. Roll called the following were present
A M Long, PC
J P Denton
M L Clark
T C. Taylor
John Navy
John Chapman

Question 1st no appeals
2 no complaints
3 Report of Sundy Schools have done good work, this year. 2 of them is still operation
6 Report B 4 adults have been baptized
7. Children received into the church 4? Persons
10. John L Navy was licensed to exort
11 $7.65 paid to PC
23 No report
24 ………
25 ………
26 Pleasant Grove was appointed

Recently, I went back over to the old Rockdale Mill area and made these photos after the flood. It had been so long that I don’t know much about what the area looked like. I have heard many stories about our ancestors and there are several write ups in the Cleveland County history books about this area. I was raised on Buffalo Creek nearby. I remember walking along the mill road as a child and also on the Rockdale Road. This week there was an article in the Shelby Star regarding the flood and I have attached that link also.

The present owners Jack Spangler and Don Dellinger had hoped to restore the old mill, but not sure there is enough to restore at this point. Leslie and Iva Cuthbertson owned the property at one time and the house and old buildings that are still standing are seen in the photographs.

I can remember as a little girl sitting on my mother’s lap watching her mouth moved as she talked. I can remember her smiles, but all the things we did together are so special. Mother did not “play” much for she had 8 children and life was very demanding of her.

Mother was always up early and fixed a big spread for our breakfast. The girls always helped her, as we were not allowed to put all the work on Mom. She made some chocolate pudding for breakfast, which I have never heard of anyone serving their family since. Guess she knew we needed that. She worked so hard trying to keep things clean in her kitchen. You see, the men folks were not allowed in her kitchen to touch anything, as she was very preoccupied with cleanliness. The girls helped her with meal preparations and if the men wanted or needed anything like a drink of water or a biscuit, it had to be done by the girls. She did not want them touching her towels and was afraid they would.

Dad was so protective of Mom. He loved her so much! He made sure his girls were at her beck and call. We loved them both.
Mom’s hobbies were her work. She had a lot of interests that probably were hidden that we never knew, but then there would have been no time to do them. It seems that everything she attempted to do, she did with all her might and was meticulous with it. For example, her quilting was done all freehand and her stitches were small and consistently spaced. The patterns were cut very precise and seamed together precisely. She taught us to sew, but could make us redo seams that varied any from the 5/8 inch seam allowance. She made all the girls clothes and worked so hard doing this.

We lived on a big farm and that is how our Mom and Dad provided for us. The boys would help dad to get those crops in the ground early as possible. We had a huge garden and it was absolutely beautiful. Canning everything she could get her hands on, mom worked so very hard in the summer. After work on Wednesday evenings when possible, we would go to choir practice at St. Paul Baptist Church.

Mom and dad enjoyed gospel singing and wanted their children to participate. Whenever a shaped note singing school was in the area, we tried to knock off a little early from work so we could go. We visited a lot of area churches this way. The last day of the singing school we would have a singing convention and you cannot imagine the sounds coming from there. So wonderful a memory! On the way home, we talked about how we wish we could play the piano like someone else or could sing like someone else. Dad and Mom encouraged us by taking us!

Everything that was done included our whole family! There were no favorites or singling one of us out for anything. Birthdays were only significant enough to mention that it was our birthday. No one got left out or came out better than the other.

We would sit under the china berry tree in our yard while breaking our green beans for canning. It was there under that old tree that we had conversations about God and about our family, who our ancestors were and where they were buried, what happened to them etc. I just wish I had written all this stuff down because that has been so long ago. I want to know all those things now, and they are not there to ask.

Mom could make some of the best berry “sonkers” you could eat. It seems no one called them “sonkers”, but us. Most people called them “cobblers”. We would gather wild strawberries and take them to her. It might take us all morning to get enough for a sonker, but she would make it and it was always enough and everyone enjoyed them so. Blackberry sonkers were my brother, Norris’ favorite.

She loved her little flower garden on the side of the house. She just had flowers that her friends had shared with her. I especially enjoyed the early crocus, jonquils, iris, baby’s breath bushes. She loved dahlias, mums and roses.

I have so many memories of things she did for me, and these memories are so special, but one memory that surely stands out was when my first child was sick at about 1 year old. Tim had ran a fever, vomiting and diarrhea for 5 days or so and we were taking him back and forth to the doctor and it seemed like he was never going to get better. On Friday, mom came to check on him, and I was sitting crying. My house was a wreck, because all I had done was sit and held Tim. Every time I tried laying him down he would cry like he was really hurting and aching. I felt so sorry for him. I tried to sit still and not move. Mom came in and assessed the situation. She told me that she would hold him for me while I did my housework until Gene got home and we could take him to the doctor once more. She told me that she had been in similar situations with her children that all she could do was pray that they would get better and asked me if I had done that. Needless to say, I did that ! That day they put Tim in the hospital for some fluids and the next morning, we were so happy to see him standing up in his crib, playing and talking. You can be reassured, I was so thankful for my Mother for reminding me of prayer! It is something I do everyday and many times a day.

Mom died in December 1990, just a few months after we buried our son, Donnie, whom Mom loved so much. No doubt his death was a heavy burden on her heart.

The link above gives you access to some old marriage licenses from the area. Some are from Rutherford, Cleveland, Lincoln, Burke and Catawba Counties. These are my private collection of copies that I made while visiting the Register of Deeds in the area. I copied a lot of information from a lot of the certificates, and then decided it was much easier at times to just make copies themselves. That way I had the copy to refer back to. Perhaps sometime, I will send a list of those I transcribed and did not make copies of. You will notice that most of these connect to the family COOK, but there are a few others stuck in. Hope you enjoy these and find someone who connects to your family. That always makes your day!